'Madam Secretary' premieres, 'Good Wife' returns

* MADAM SECRETARY. 8:30 p.m. Sunday, CBS3, repeating at 10:30. Moves to 8 p.m. Sundays the following week.

* THE GOOD WIFE. 9:30 p.m. Sunday, CBS3.

IT'S TIMELY, it's topical and it could be the perfect show to bridge the gap between "60 Minutes" and "The Good Wife."

Though, honestly, CBS' "Madam Secretary" had me at Téa Leoni.

Leoni, who makes her debut Sunday as a newly confirmed secretary of state with change-the-world ambitions, has been away from television too long - "The Naked Truth" ended in 1998 - but like her character, Elizabeth McCord, she's come back when her country needs her.

Here endeth the gushing.

Because having sucked me in with the promise of Leoni as a reasonably savvy idealist who'd earlier quit the CIA for ethical reasons and who might just know how to prevent two naive American kids from being executed in Syria, "Madam Secretary" insists, as most Washington-based shows do, on introducing an overarching conspiracy.

And in a world where horrifying new crises erupt hourly, I am just not that interested in finding out what happened to McCord's predecessor, whose death in a plane crash is apparently suspicious to people beyond the new secretary's young son, a self-proclaimed anarchist who sees conspiracies everywhere.

But then I also remember thinking that the "Lost" pilot was overdoing it with that polar bear.

Even with the mystery in the White House, there's a lot to like about "Madam Secretary" beyond Leoni's trademark husky voice and dry delivery. The supporting cast includes Bebe Neuwirth ("Cheers") as the chief of staff whom McCord inherits from her predecessor, Zeljko Ivanek ("Oz," "Damages"), as the president's chief of staff, who's less than enthralled with her, and, in a recurring role, Keith Carradine as POTUS himself.

Tim Daly plays McCord's husband, a popular professor of religion - here's where I work in the fact that showrunner Barbara Hall also created "Joan of Arcadia" - and a character who so far hasn't fallen into the cliché of resenting his wife's job. Not that the subject doesn't get addressed: Television never forgets that it's always still 1974 in someone's living room.

McCord's family life may not be as interesting to me as her work life, but with any luck it won't be a train wreck.

There are those who'll tell you that CBS' "Madam Secretary" is a propaganda vehicle for Hillary Clinton.

But, then, those people may also think that "The Good Wife" is about Hillary.

The drama that began with Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) as the wife of a philandering politico (Chris Noth) has long since turned its attention to weightier matters, becoming in the process CBS' most subversive show.

Most nights, you'll find the network celebrating the ever-increasing technological powers of law enforcement, both official ("NCIS," "CSI," "Criminal Minds") and less so ("Person of Interest," "Elementary").

Then for an hour on Sundays, "The Good Wife" regularly serves up twisted but cautionary tales about what can happen when a society puts its collective security above the rights of individuals.

You may call that Hollywood liberalism, but as the daughter of a Goldwater Republican, I consider it pretty conservative.

No word on what either Gold_water or my late father would have thought of Sunday's season premiere, in which the work gets very personal for Alicia's firm.

No spoilers here, but if what happens to a major character makes you wonder about the vast potential for collateral damage in one of our longest-running "wars," I'm guessing "The Good Wife" writers won't mind a bit.

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On Twitter: @elgray

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